After sending the final files off for The Awakening, a short comic I made, I figured I would post a bit of the process behind making it. The Awakening is a 16 page, black and white comic about a young boy's dreams of the dark forest that surrounds his house.

Let's start with the cover and the small thumbnail sketch.

I scan the thumbnail sketch in and work on it digitally until I get everything how I'd like it to look.

After getting the drawing tightened up and an idea of the type placement, I'll print out the sketch and draw it in blue pencil and ink it traditionally.

Final inks scanned, color added, and typography placed.

Next, the process of making the interior pages. I start with small thumbnails to layout the story and make sure everything works sequentially over the course of the entire issue.

Next I rough out the thumbnails to a larger size, correct dimensions, proportions, etc. Then I'll scan in my rough sketches and work on them digitally correcting anything that looks strange or incorrect.

I also start working on values and shadows. After I figure like the compositions and values I print the picture out either black and white or blue line and move onto inking.

Final inks above. After the inking is cleaned up in photoshop I move onto adding color, or in this case black and white values, then the typography.

Here's a preview of the final issue which will be on sale in February.

Rust Belt Arcana by Matt Stansberry & David Wilson available for pre-order!

EVENTS 2019TBA

To commemorate the Rust Belt Arcana Tarot Deck -- out on @beltpub -- we've created a new spread -- a method to lay the cards out for a reading. There are hundreds of possible patterns and spreads for folks to choose from when doing cartomancy, but ours symbolizes our inspiration, the Great Lakes. This six-card spread works as both a self-read, and when reading for someone else.
#tarot #tarotreading #nature #art #rustbelt #greatlakes #lakeerie #art #tarotcards #rustbeltarcana #wildlife #neoh #outdoors #illustration